His portrait subjects were often other painters such as Francesco Clemente and Lucas Samaras, and his work was shown in the prestigious Pace Gallery in New York City. Then catastrophe struck: Close suffered a collapsed spinal artery, which ultimately left him paralyzed and permanently wheelchair-bound. For weeks, many in the art world thought he might be dead. Certainly, the obituary of his painting career was quickly written. But a scant two years later, the indomitable Close reemerged, his canvasses as large as ever, the heretofore objective distance between him and his subjects foreshortened to make room for a new depth of emotion in the work.

"Some people wonder whether what I do is inspired by a computer and whether or not that kind of imaging is a part of what makes this work contemporary. I absolutely hate technology, and I’m computer illiterate, and I never use any labor-saving devices although I’m not convinced that a computer is a labor-saving device."

Almost all of Closes work is based on the use of a grid as an underlying basis for the representation of an image. This simple but surprisingly versatile structure provides the means for "a creative process that could be interrupted repeatedly without damaging the final product, in which the segmented structure was never intended to be disguised." It is important to note that none of Close’s images are created digitally or photo-mechanically. While it is tempting to read his gridded details as digital integers, all his work is made the old-fashioned wayby hand…

A prolific and celebrated artist, Chuck Close has worked for nearly four decades within a carefully defined practice focused exclusively on portraiture. Close’s own image, more than any other, is the touchstone to which he regularly returns…